This volume presents critical statements relating to Tragedy, both as form and vision, ranging from Aristotle to the present day. The governing theme is the critical response to tragic experience, illustrated by texts showing the variable and changing nature of the tragic tradition at different epochs and in different literatures. It embraces the Novel and Lyric poetry as well as the Drama. The Introduction examines the complex range of opinion on tragedy and establishes a meaningful context for enquiry and debate.
Preluded by Aristotle, the selection exhibits major statements from Chaucer to Strindberg, with modern critical standpoints represented by R.P. Draper, Northrop Frye, Humphry House, Aldous Huxley, John Jones, James Joyce, Jeannette King, Dorothea Krook, Arthur Miller, I.A. Richards, George Steiner, J.L. Styan, Raymond Williams, Virginia Woolf and W.B. Yeats.